Reta Shaw

Reta Shaw
Shaw in The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968)
Born(1912-09-13)September 13, 1912
South Paris, Maine, U.S.
DiedJanuary 8, 1982(1982-01-08) (aged 69)
Encino, California, U.S.
OccupationActress
Years active1935–1975
SpouseWilliam A. Forester (divorced)
Children1

Reta Shaw (September 13, 1912 – January 8, 1982) was an American character actress known for playing strong, hard-edged, working women in film and on many of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. She may be best remembered as the housekeeper, Martha Grant, on the television series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and as the cook, Mrs. Brill, in the 1964 film Mary Poppins.[1][2]

Early life

Reta M. Shaw was born in South Paris, Maine, on September 13, 1912,[3] to Howard Shaw. Her father was an orchestra leader. Shaw's younger sister was actress Marguerite Shaw.[4] The daughter and granddaughter of women who believed in spiritualism, Shaw reportedly once told a newspaper interviewer that she had been "brought up on a ouija board."[1]

Shaw graduated from Paris High School in 1929, and was awarded the Alumni Prize, as well as a varsity letter for her role as manager of the girls track team at commencement.[5] She sang at the South Paris Congregational Church[6] and participated in amateur theatricals,[7] [8] and would later study acting and graduate from the Leland Powers School of the Theater in Boston, Massachusetts.[9]

Career

Shaw as Mrs. Brill in Mary Poppins (1964).

After attending Leland Powers School, Shaw pursued professional theater as a performer, accompanist, music director, and teacher, including time on the faculty of the Bishop Lee School in Boston, and several seasons of summer stock in Malden Bridge, NY.[10] In 1936-1937, Shaw spent a year as vocal coach and teaching acting for children at the Studio Theater School in Buffalo, New York, as well as performing with Studio Theater players in plays including "Spring Dance" by Philip Barry,[11] She directed the one-act play, "So's Your Old Antique" by Clare Kummer for Studio Theater Workshop,[12] and also performed on local radio in Buffalo. Shaw subsequently did comedy work in night clubs, and during World War II joined the Red Cross Entertainment Unit, serving for three years, mostly overseas, including 18 months in Iceland.[13] [14]

Shaw's first credited appearance on the Broadway stage was in 1947's It Takes Two.[1] She then appeared in Virginia Reel and on Broadway in a comedic role as Mabel in the original production of The Pajama Game in 1954, as well as in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Picnic, and Annie Get Your Gun, the last on tour with Mary Martin. She had featured roles in several motion pictures, including Picnic, The Pajama Game, Mary Poppins, Pollyanna, The Ghost And Mr. Chicken, Bachelor in Paradise and Escape to Witch Mountain.[2]

She appeared in the first season (1958–1959) of The Ann Sothern Show in the role of Flora Macauley, the overbearing wife of Jason Macauley, played by Ernest Truex. She appeared in Pollyanna in 1960 as Tillie Langerlof. In the 1960–1961, she played the housekeeper Thelma on The Tab Hunter Show. She played a housekeeper in the 1961–1962 series Ichabod and Me[2] and the Wiere Brothers′ landlady Mrs. Stansfield in Oh! Those Bells in 1962.[15][16][17]

In 1961, she was cast as Cora in the episode "Uncle Paul's New Wife" of Pete and Gladys, starring Harry Morgan and Cara Williams. In that installment, Uncle Paul is played by Gale Gordon, a semi-regular on the series.[2] During the 1964–1965 season, she was reunited with Williams with a recurring role on The Cara Williams Show as Mrs. Burkhardt, the wife of a business executive.[18][19]

Shaw appears in a 1962 episode of the series Outlaws with Barton MacLane. She also plays a comic role for The Lucy Show as a grandmother who sits on a $500 bill that Lucy lost and soon after sits on Lucy's hand in the episode "Lucy Misplaces $2,000". Thereafter, she guest starred in the CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show. She appears too as the bar hostess Teeney in the 1964 episode "The Richard Bloodgood Story" of the series Wagon Train. Shaw's character of Bertha/Hagatha, a matronly witch, is a recurring character on TV's Bewitched, and she performed as Miss Gormley in an episode of The Brian Keith Show.[2]

Shaw appeared twice in CBS's The Andy Griffith Show, as escaped convict Big Maude Tyler ("Convicts at Large") and as Eleanora Poultice, the educated voice teacher of Barney Fife ("The Song Festers"). She guest-stars as well as Aunt Clara in the 1965 episode "Return from Outer Space") of Lost in Space. In the 1966 feature film The Ghost and Mr. Chicken Shaw portrays the banker's wife and leader of the "Psychic Occult Society", Mrs. Halcyon Maxwell. In 1967, she played a THRUSH Agent, "Miss Witherspoon", in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.[2]

Shaw and Buttons in Me and the Chimp. (1971)

On television, Shaw was also seen in Mister Peepers, Armstrong Circle Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Millionaire. In 1965, she appeared on The Dick Van Dyke Show as an unemployment office worker. In 1965, she also appeared in an episode of My Three Sons. She played a housekeeper named Fredocia whom Steve had hired after Bub took a trip to Ireland. That particular episode was Uncle Charley's first appearance. In 1966, she appeared in a bit part on That Girl as a department-store organist. In 1966, she appeared as Bessie, an undercover agent, in the episode of I Spy titled "Lisa".

Shaw co-starred on the sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir where she played housekeeper Martha Grant. The show took place in the fictional fishing village of Schooner Bay, Maine while Shaw was born in South Paris, Maine.

Shaw appeared in a season 4 episode of I Dream of Jeannie titled "Jeannie and the Wild Pipchicks", in which she played a strict Air Force dietician who has her innermost inhibition released (in her case a beautiful butterfly). In The Odd Couple, she appeared as a nanny who was a former army colonel in the episode "Maid for Each Other", which aired on November 23, 1973. In 1973 she played country nurse Ozella Peterson in the Emergency! episode "Snakebite". In 1974, on Happy Days, she played the babysitter Mrs. McCarthy in the episode titled "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do". Her final performance came in the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain in the role of Mrs. Grindley, owner of the orphanage where Tia and Tony are sent after the death of their foster parents.[2]

Personal life and death

Shaw married and divorced actor William Forester. While married the couple had one child, daughter Kathryn Anne Forester.[9]

Shaw died in 1982 at age 69 from emphysema in Encino, California.[1][9]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1955 Picnic Irma Kronkite
1955 All Mine to Give Mrs. Runyon
1956 Alfred Hitchcock Presents Martha Stone Season 1 Episode 38: "The Creeper"
1957 Man Afraid Nurse Willis
1957 The Pajama Game Mabel
1958 The Lady Takes a Flyer Nurse Kennedy
1960 Pollyanna Tillie Lagerlof
1961 Sanctuary Miss Reba
1961 Bachelor in Paradise Mrs. Brown
1964 A Global Affair Nurse Argyle
1964 Mary Poppins Mrs. Brill, The Domestic Helper
1965 That Funny Feeling Woman at Phone Booth
1965 Marriage on the Rocks Saleslady at Saks Uncredited
1965 The Loved One Manager of The Zomba Cafe
1966 The Ghost and Mr. Chicken Mrs. Halcyon Maxwell
1966 Made in Paris American Bar Singer
1971 Murder Once Removed Nurse Regis
1975 Escape to Witch Mountain Mrs. Grindley (final film role)

References

  1. ^ a b c d Galbraith, Jane. " She also played “Big Maude Tyler” an escaped convict on The Andy Griffith show “Convicts At Large” aired 12/10/1962. TV Servant Had Proper Spirit for Part". Los Angeles Times. January 18, 1982, p.22.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Reta Shaw at IMDb
  3. ^ Cox, Stephen; Marhanka, Kevin (2008). The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts. Cumberland House. p. 77. ISBN 978-1581826586.
  4. ^ "Marguerite Shaw, 66; Actress and Educator". The New York Times. October 2, 1983. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "Paris High Holds Graduation". The Lewiston Daily Sun. 15 Jun 1929. p. 10. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  6. ^ "Easter Services in South Paris Churches". Sun Journal. 17 Apr 1930. p. 2. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  7. ^ "South Paris - Program for the Community Club Gentleman's Night - P.T.A. Night". The Lewiston Daily Sun. 27 Feb 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  8. ^ "Cast and Program for Norway-Paris Club Play". Sun Journal. 27 Sep 1935. p. 7. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  9. ^ a b c "Reta Shaw, Was Mabel In 'The Pajama Game'". The New York Times. January 18, 1982. p. 10, Column 3, Section D. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  10. ^ "Screen Talent Scout Hunts a Romantic Lead in Buffalo". Buffalo Evening News. 13 Nov 1936. p. 39. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  11. ^ "Players Score in Spring Dance". Buffalo Evening News. 17 Nov 1936. p. 16. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  12. ^ "Workshop Players to Give One-Act Plays Wednesday". Buffalo Courier Express. 21 Feb 1937. p. 10. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  13. ^ Mary Nash (18 Nov 1948). "Reta Shaw of "Annie" Once Taught at Studio School". Buffalo, NY: Buffalo Evening News. p. 37. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  14. ^ Marion Cooper (25 Mar 1944). "Two South Paris Sisters with Red Cross Recreational Staff". Lewiston Daily Sun. p. 13. Retrieved 15 Oct 2024.
  15. ^ McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, New York: Penguin Books, 1996, p. 614.
  16. ^ Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Sixth Edition, New York: Ballantine Books, 1995; ISBN 0-345-39736-3, pg. 766.
  17. ^ Nostalgia Central: OH! THOSE BELLS. Accessed January 3, 2022.
  18. ^ McNeil, Alex, Total Television: The Comprehensive Guide to Programming From 1948 to the Present, Fourth Edition, New York: Penguin Books, 1996; ISBN 0 14 02 4916 8, pp. 146–147.
  19. ^ Brooks, Tim, and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime-Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, Ninth Edition, New York: Ballantine Books, 2007; ISBN 978-0-345-49773-4, pp. 220–221.